Speech and Language Processing

PhD position and Post-doc position: Privacy-respecting dialog systems

(Computational Linguistics, Computer Science or similar)

Conversational interfaces based on deep learning are becoming more and more ubiquitous. However, the massive amounts of stored speech and text data that is needed for training state-of-the-art models raises serious privacy concerns for its users. Each spoken message may potentially reveal information about the user's personality, may contain critical information (credit card numbers, passwords, etc.), and may convey sensitive information (ethnicity, age,  health status, etc.). Voice recordings may even be malevolently used to build synthesized voiced to impersonate users.

The Spoken Language Systems group at Saarland University is seeking new ways to provide dialog technology that is "private by design" by means such as e.g. privacy-preserving machine learning. To this end, we are anticipating the availability of a PhD position and a Post-Doc position starting at the beginning of 2019.

Ideal candidates for either position would have:

1. A good understanding of not just NLP, but of dialog phenomena in particular. Here, an understanding of how privacy-relevant information may arise as a result of dialog behavior (rather than as part of a single utterance) is desirable.
2. Excellent knowledge of machine learning, experience with weakly-supervised methods a plus.
3. Knowledge of and experience with scientific evaluation methodologies.
4. Excellent programming skills, experience with RESTful APIs a plus.
5. Experience with architecting large, heterogeneous, modular and distributed systems.
6. Knowledge of the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

Salaries: The PhD position will be 75% of full time on the German E13 scale (TV-L). The Post-Doc position will be 100% of the full time on the German E13 scale (TV-L). The appointments will be for three years with possible extensions subject to follow-up funding.

About the department: The department of Language Science and Technology is one of the leading departments in the speech and language area in Europe. The flagship project at the moment is the CRC on Information Density and Linguistic Encoding. Furthermore, the department is involved in the cluster of excellence Multimodal Computing and Interaction. It also runs a significant number of European and nationally funded projects. In total it has seven faculty and around 50 postdoctoral researchers and PhD students.

How to apply:

Please send us:

• a letter of motivation
• your CV
• your transcripts
• a list of publications
• and the names and contact information of at least two references

as a single PDF or a link to a PDF if the file size is more than 3 MB.

Please apply by October 10th, 2018.

Contact: Applications and any further inquiries regarding the project should be directed to:

• Thomas.Kleinbauer@lsv.uni-saarland.de
• Dietrich.Klakow@lsv.uni-saarland.de

The Department of Medical Physics and Acoustics at the University of Oldenburg, Germany, is seeking to fill the position of a

Professor (W2) Speech Technology and Hearing Devices

commencing as soon as possible within the cluster of excellence “Hearing4all”.

The successful candidate should contribute to the already existing research focus areas hearing research, acoustics, speech processing and machine learning. She/He should exhibit links to the topics of the cluster of excellence, e.g., in audiology, auditory physiology, neurosensory science and systems, and modern methods of communication acoustics and signal processing. She/He should be a highly qualified researcher with an international publication record and practical experience in at least one of the following areas:

• Modern methods for speech and audio processing
• Machine learning and automatic speech recognition
• Modelling of machine and human speech recognition
• System technology for assistive listening devices

The successful candidate (m/f) is expected to contribute actively to the cluster of excellence “Hearing4all”, the collaborative research centre Hearing Acoustics as well as to the further structured research programmes within the Centre of Excellence for Hearing Research. In addition, she/he is expected to contribute to the core lecture program of the Department of Medical Physics and Acoustics (lecturing in English is acceptable, but German language skills should be acquired during the first 3-year period) with emphasis on engineering physics, acoustics and links to medicine and neuroscience.

Preconditions for employment are specified in § 25 NHG. To increase the proportion of women in science, equally qualified female candidates will be given preference. Applicants with disabilities will be preferentially considered in case of equal qualification. The position is suitable for part-time employment.

Applications should include the profile sheet (www.uni-oldenburg.de/medizin/unterlagen-zum-herunterladen/, Profilbogen für die Bewerbung auf eine Professur), a letter of interest, curriculum vitae, publication list, list of third-party grants, reprints of the five most important publications, teaching record, teaching concept, concepts of research and copies of credentials and records. Applications should be addressed to the Dean of the School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Carl von Ossietzky University Oldenburg (berufungen-fkvi@uni-oldenburg.de), and handed in by e-mail as one consolidated PDF attachment no later than October 15, 2018. Inquiries may be directed to Prof. Dr. Dr. Birger Kollmeier (birger.kollmeier@uni-oldenburg.de).

Title: Speech research/machine learning internship @Alibaba

Time: Fall2018, Spring2019

Job location: Seattle, WA /  San Francisco, CA / Beijing

Link: https://sites.google.com/site/gangliuresearch/jobs

About You

A willingness to be a better you on a day by day basis.

About Us:

We are Machine Intelligence Technology -Intelligent Speech Interaction-Speech, Alibaba Group (U.S.) Inc. We enable hundreds of millions of commercial and social interactions among our users, between consumers and merchants, and among businesses every day though speech. We are on the top a gold mine of high quality big data with millions of real data samples.

What You’ll Do

Develop and refine algorithms to improve speech system performance under adverse conditions. To be specific, we will assign either of the following project to you according to your background:

1) Speaker recognition: feature & model design, system fusion

2) Emotion Identification: data purification, prediction with limited out-of-domain data, feature & model design

At the end of internship, a conference paper is expected.

Skills You’ll Need

MSc/PhD candidate in Engineering, Computer Science or a related field

Proficiency in audio signal processing and robust acoustic feature engineering is a plus

Experience with speech system performance improvements under adverse condition is a plus

Deep learning (DNN, CNN, LSTM)

Familiarity with C++, Python, Bash shell

Familiarity with Kaldi, DNN toolkits

Solid publication record

Contacts:

Gang Liu

gDOTliu@alibaba-incDOTcom

please use . to replace DOT

（Application is processed on a rolling basis）

There is a 5-year Senior Research Fellow or Postdoctoral Researcher position available in the area of audio signal processing at Audio Research Group (http://arg.cs.tut.fi), Tampere University of Technology.

The job will consist of the following duties:
-Research work that supports the current research areas of ARG related to e.g. audio classification and automatic content analysis, speech processing and analysis, spatial audio, sound source separation, or expands the current research areas of the group.
-Supervision of junior researchers in research projects.
-Assisting the group leader professor Tuomas Virtanen in preparing and coordinating research projects.
-Participation in teaching related to audio signal processing.
The position will be filled for a fixed term period of five years. The commencement date will be September – December 2018 as mutually agreed and can be negotiated.

Details of the position and the online application form are available at www.tut.fi/openpositions
Closing date for applications is 8th September 2018. For more information, please contact professor Tuomas Virtanen (tuomas.virtanen@tut.fi)

Job Description

A Career at HARMAN

We are ONE HARMAN. We are greater than the sum of our divisions or brands. We proudly talk about our many iconic brands and describe how our technologies are transforming the car, the workplace and everywhere in between.  We work hard. We create useful, playful, beautiful things. We strive for excellence and we aim to win as a team. No matter the position, every employee at HARMAN is expected to demonstrate our core competencies:  leadership, change-orientation, collaboration, judgment and a results-driven mindset.  At HARMAN, we expect brilliance.  You can expect a career full of brilliant possibilities. 

Position Summary:

A Senior Engineer provides a wider variety of technical support tasks using a combination of advanced engineering principles and techniques.  They operate with little guidance/supervision as Subject Matter Experts (SME) in their defined area of specialization.\

Job Responsibilities:

• Lead research on advanced technology projects, influencing future generations of products for automotive, consumer, and professional use
• Develop change plan for projects to ensure successful implementation
• Invent, develop, and document highest impact future use scenarios to identify and verify opportunities
• Extend on existing design research by creating systems rapidly with a series of working prototypes
• Drive breakthrough ideas and world-class research into product organizations
• Contribute to the organization’s strong drive to be on the cutting edge of technology through the generation of patentable ideas
• Conduct technology evaluation and assessment of software and hardware tools, component technologies, and systems
• Write and review invention disclosures at a high rate and with ease in order to protect intellectual property, both as main inventor and co-inventor
• Collaborate with a heterogeneous group of end-to-end prototyping and research engineers (hardware & software), interaction and visual designers, software and hardware developers

Basic Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in Electrical, Computer, or Software Engineering or related field and 5 years of experience; alternatively, Master’s Degree in above mentioned fields and at least 1 year experience in research and development
• In addition, having shown high involvement in research, technology development, and cutting edge innovation all throughout the academic curriculum via TAs, RAs, and internships
• Experience working in the Professional or Consumer Audio/Video industry, technology industry, or automotive industry
• Experience with the use of rapid prototyping tools for software and hardware, electronics, and mechanical design for consumer or professional electronics and future device platforms
• Ability to communicate advanced and complex concepts and ideas persuasively and concisely to all levels of the business

Preferred Qualifications:

• BSEE or equivalent education, and 3+ years of experience in embedded software development.
• Strong C, C++ or C# programming and debugging skills.
• Must demonstrate a high level of proficiency with DSP principles and the ability to apply them. (FFT, Z-transform, bilinear transform, etc…)
• Experience in research and development of Audio Digital Signal Processing (DSP) algorithms in Matlab/Simulink. Implementation and optimization of algorithms on real-time DSP hardware.
• Experience in professional audio device industry in creating DSP software for various platforms and integrating with applications on Microsoft, Apple and Android products.
• Real-time embedded systems experience.
• Experience with communications protocols such as TCP/IP, UDP, etc. 
• Good understanding of the purpose and use of version control systems (i.e., Perforce, Atlassian).
• Basic understanding of audio and professional audio systems.

Eligibility Requirements:

• Willingness to travel domestically and internationally 5-10% of the time.
• Willingness to work in an office.
• Any offer of employment is conditioned upon the successful completion of a background investigation and drug screen.

About HARMAN International

HARMAN (harman.com) designs and engineers connected products and solutions for automakers, consumers, and enterprises worldwide, including connected car systems, audio and visual products, enterprise automation solutions; and services supporting the Internet of Things.  With leading brands including AKG®, Harman Kardon®, Infinity®, JBL®, Lexicon®, Mark Levinson® and Revel®, HARMAN is admired by audiophiles, musicians and the entertainment venues where they perform around the world. More than 50 million automobiles on the road today are equipped with HARMAN audio and connected car systems. Our software services power billions of mobile devices and systems that are connected, integrated and secure across all platforms, from work and home to car and mobile. HARMAN has a workforce of approximately 30,000 people across the Americas, Europe, and Asia. In March 2017, HARMAN became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. HARMAN is an Equal Opportunity, Affirmative Action employer. Minorities, women, veterans and individuals with disabilities are encouraged to apply. HARMAN offers a great work environment, brilliant career opportunities, professional training and competitive compensation. Looking for a challenge where your experience is valued? Come see what you can achieve as a leader with HARMAN!

Stanford University announces a postdoctoral fellowship, with initial term of October 1, 2018 to September 30, 2019 with the potential for renewal.

The postdoc would join our project on using NLP, dialogue, and speech processing to improve police-community relations by processing and studying the language from police body-worn cameras.

Candidates should have a PhD in Computer Science or a related field with a strong background in speech/spoken language processing and NLP. Interdisciplinary experience in computational social science is also desirable. The project encompasses a wide variety of research areas and methods, including modeling conversational interaction and dialogue structure, extracting social and discourse meaning from text and speech, speech processing, and video processing.

The postdoc would be mentored by Dan Jurafsky (Linguistics and Computer Science), and Jennifer Eberhardt (Psychology), the PIs of the research project. The postdoc would be housed in the Stanford NLP Group, a fun, collaborative group providing many opportunities for learning, hands-on research and teamwork. See http://nlp.stanford.edu/.

Stanford University is an affirmative action and equal opportunity employer, committed to increasing the diversity of its workforce. It welcomes applications from women, members of underrepresented groups, veterans, persons with disabilities, and others who would bring additional dimensions to the university's research and teaching mission.

Candidates should submit the following materials electronically to Grayce Ujihara at gujihara@stanford.edu.

To simplify processing, please email one PDF file that includes:

• A brief statement of interest describing your relevant background
• Current CV
• Contact information for three references (letters of recommendation will only be solicited from finalists)
• Two publications or other writing samples

Review of applications will begin June 15 and continue until the position is filled.

PHD PROGRAM in TRANSLATIONAL NEUROSCIENCES AND NEUROTECHNOLOGIES

The Center for Translational Neurophysiology of Speech and Communication (CTNSC) @ Italian Institute of Technology (IIT), is looking for highly motivated students to work on:

- Improving performance and biocompatibility of electrode arrays for brain-computer interfaces - Functional investigation of innovative neural interfaces - Investigation of sensorimotor functions in animal models (NH primates and rats) - Machine learning applications to multimodal brain and speech signals - Human neurophysiology of speech and sensorimotor communication - Cortical recordings in human patients during awake Neurosurgery - Hardware and software development for innovative exploration of brain signals   We are looking for computer scientists, biomedical/electrical engineers, biologists or experimental psychologists eager to work in an international and multidisciplinary team.

Where: The CTNSC is hosted by the University of Ferrara (UNIFE) in a prestigious historical building in the city center. UNIFE is one of the oldest Universities (founded in 1391) and in terms of its size, facilities, quality, and quantity of education and research is a point of excellence within Italy.

Ferrara is a well connected (30-min to Bologna, 40-min to Padua, 60-min to Venice), lively and affordable student city (https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/733).

Application INFO: http://www.unife.it/studenti/dottorato/concorsi/selection

DEADLINE: 23 July 2018

Aalto University (School of Electrical Engineering, Department of Signal Processing and Acoustics) invites applications for Postdoc position in Speech Processing.

The Department of Signal Processing and Acoustics is a part of School of Electrical Engineering. The department consists of four main research areas. The speech communication technology research group (led by Prof. Paavo Alku) works on interdisciplinary topics aiming at describing, explaining and reproducing communication by speech. The main topics of our research are: voice source analysis and parameterization, statistical parametric speech synthesis, speech quality and intelligibility improvement, robust feature extraction in speech and speaker recognition, and occupational voice care.

We are currently looking for a postdoc to join our research team to work on the team’s research themes. We are particularly interested in candidates with research interest in paralinguistic speech processing, particularly speech-based biomarking of human health, voice conversion or speech synthesis.

Postdoc: 3 years. Starting date: Autumn 2018 (flexible)

In Helsinki you will join the innovative international computational data analysis and ICT community. Among European cities, Helsinki is special in being clean, safe, Scandinavian, and close to nature, in short, having a high standard of living. English is spoken everywhere. See, e.g., http://www.visitfinland.com/

Requirements The position requires doctoral degree in speech and language technology, computer science, signal processing or other relevant area, skills for doing excellent research in a group, and outstanding research experience in any of the research themes mentioned above. The candidate is expected to perform high-quality research and assist in supervising PhD students.

How to apply

If you are interested in this opportunity, apply by submitting the following documents in English and in electrical form (use the pdf format only!) by July 31, 2018. Send your application, CV, a transcript of academic records and references directly by email to Professor Paavo Alku. Please insert the subject line “Aalto post-doc recruitment, 2018”.

Additional information

Paavo Alku, paavo.alku@aalto.fi

Professor of Brain-signal Analytics

Aalto University is a community of bold thinkers where science and art meet technology and business. We are committed to identifying and solving grand societal challenges and building an innovative future. Aalto University has six schools with nearly 11 000 students and more than 400 professors. Our campuses are located in Espoo and Helsinki, Finland.
  We are now looking for:
  Professor of Brain-signal Analytics
to build his/her research program for making fundamental advances in science as an integral part of the vibrant scientific community of Aalto University.
The position will be filled primarily at the Assistant or Associate Professor level. However, we also welcome applications by outstanding scientists for Full Professor level appointment.
  Your working environment
  Health and wellbeing is one of the seven key research areas of Aalto University, and neuroscience and neurotechnology is a strategic focus area of the School of Science. The continued development of this field is vital for reaching Aalto’s strategic objectives in scientific excellence and societal impact. The tenure-track position will be placed in the Department of Neuroscience and Biomedical Engineering (NBE, http://nbe.aalto.fi/en/) where research methods range from cellular patch-clamp techniques to human neuroimaging using, e.g., magnetoencephalography (MEG), electroencephalography (EEG), functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS), and navigated transcranial magnetic stimulation (nTMS) combined with EEG.
  NBE and its predecessors are world-renowned for their development of many of these technologies and their use in systems and cognitive neuroscience. The most advanced MEG (Elekta/MEGIN Ltd) and TMS (Nexstim Plc) devices are manufactured by spinoff companies of laboratories that now constitute NBE (Brain Research Unit of Low Temperature Laboratory and Laboratory of Biomedical Engineering). Current technology development (funded by ERC, FET Open, NIH, Academy of Finland and Erkko Foundation) at NBE includes the development of hybrid MEG–MRI systems, high-resolution MEG based on optically pumped magnetometers (OPMs), high-definition NIRS, and multi-locus TMS combined with EEG and fMRI.
  NBE hosts and develops a national open-access research infrastructure, Aalto NeuroImaging (ANI, http://ani.aalto.fi/en/) with 306-channel MEG, 3-tesla f/MRI, nTMS, and a behavioral laboratory. MEG and nTMS equipment are also available at the hospital campus’s BioMag Laboratory (jointly owned by Aalto, University of Helsinki and Helsinki University Hospital).
  NBE’s experimental research focuses on human sensory and motor functions, cognition, social interaction, emotional responses, and language processing. Experimental designs vary from tightly controlled to naturalistic stimulus designs. Neuroscience at NBE is intimately tied with the development and application of novel data-analysis methods, including machine-learning and complex-network analysis approaches that together with the advanced neuroimaging and -stimulation techniques enable major advances in the depth and range of neuroscience questions that can be addressed. NBE has close contacts and collaboration with the University of Helsinki, Helsinki University Hospital and the MEG and TMS manufacturers, as well as active collaboration with other departments of Aalto University and other Finnish universities.
  Your experience and skills

You have strong motivation and skills to develop and apply advanced signal-processing and estimation-theoretical methods to analyze data obtained from the brain by MEG, EEG, fMRI, or NIRS, ideally across multiple imaging modalities. When appropriate and useful, the signal-analysis methods can take advantage of sophisticated brain or tissue modeling and a priori information about brain activity and behavior.
  You will strengthen the faculty of NBE with an expertise gained from your previous innovative brain-signal-analysis studies. You are expected to act as a teacher in Aalto Master’s Programme in Life Science Technologies. Good knowledge and experience in neuroscience, neurotechnology, neurology, or related fields are considered essential for the job. You have excellent skills in mathematics and modern data-processing methodology and are able to develop practical and reliable methods that help solve the most urgent needs in experimental human neuroscience where signals from the brain must be interpreted for the benefit of science and the patient.
  As a professor at Aalto, you are expected to exercise and guide scientific research, to provide related higher academic education, to follow the advances of your field, to serve the Aalto University community, and to take part in societal interaction and international collaboration in your field. As an applicant you will be reviewed on the basis of your research, teaching and academic leadership and activity in scientific community.

Ready to apply?

If you want to join our community of game changers please submit your application through our recruitment system by June 13, 2018.
Please include in your application (pdfs in English)

• Curriculum Vitae
• List of publications (with max 10 most significant publications for this call highlighted)
• Research statement describing past research and plans for future research (max two pages)
• Teaching portfolio
• Contacts for References
  Please find general instructions for applicants, including language requirements and guidelines for compiling teaching portfolio and CV at www.aalto.fi/en/tenure_track/for_applicant .
  If you wish to hear more about the position, you can contact
Head of Department, Professor Risto Ilmoniemi, tel. +358 50 5562 964 or, in recruitment process -related questions, HR-coordinator Mari Kaarni, tel. +358 50 316 0961. E-mails: firstname.lastname@aalto.fi.
In Espoo / Helsinki, 11 May 2018

*****************
Tenure track in Aalto University
The tenure track is open to talented individuals who have excellent potential for a scientific career. Individuals on the Aalto University professorial tenure track have the possibility to advance in their career through regular performance reviews, which take into account their merits in all areas of their scope of duty. Launched in 2010, the tenure track has attracted a wide range of international applicants, giving Aalto University the possibility of recruiting top experts and young research talent to join the Aalto University community. Read more about the Aalto University tenure track system at www.aalto.fi/en/tenuretrack.
****************** Apply for this job

Manual operation of hearing assistive devices is cumbersome in various situations. With advances in machine learning and speech technology, voice interfaces are being deployed for hearing assistive devices. Hearing assistive devices are characterized by strict memory and computational complexity constraints and by the fact that they are expected to operate flawlessly, even in acoustically challenging situations. This PhD project aims to develop personalized, noise-robust and super low-resource voice control systems for hearing assistive devices, using microphone signals and other modalities.

The project will be conducted at the newly founded Centre for Acoustic Signal Processing Research (CASPR, http://caspr.es.aau.dk/ ) of the Section for Signal and Information Processing, Department of Electronic Systems, Aalborg University. The Centre focuses on conducting research and education in scientific disciplines supporting future statistical signal processing concepts for hearing assistive devices. 

The successful applicant must have a Master degree in machine learning, statistical signal processing, speech processing or acoustic signal processing, and have extensive knowledge in one or more of these disciplines. Excellent undergraduate and master degree grades are desired. A high level of written and spoken English is also expected. 

You may obtain further information from Professor Zheng-Hua Tan, phone: +45 9940 8686, email: zt@es.aau.dk or Professor Jesper Jensen, phone: +45 9940 8630, email: jje@es.aau.dk , Department of Electronic Systems, concerning the scientific aspects of the stipend.

Link: http://www.stillinger.aau.dk/vis-stilling/?vacancy=971671